﻿296 LÉPIDOPTÉROLOGIE COMPARÉE 



Another différence between L. alcon and L. arion is that 

 L. anon eats the whole of the ant larva. 1 found no évidence 

 that L. alcon did so and in the autumn at any rate it only 

 sucked the juices of the ant larvae. In the sprmg, if it eat up 

 the ant brood, it was only the pupa that it completely devoured, 

 if it did so. In the spring 1 found few if any remams of sucked 

 larvae, nor did I ûnd any frass of L. alcon, if there was any it 

 must hâve been in very minute pellets indistmguishable from 

 those of the ants. 



This and various other points require further observations, in 

 various directions, my observations were directed especially to 

 getting the larvae to complète their life-history and I avoided 

 ail disturbances I could, and anythmg that might injure the 

 health and temper of the ants. 1 had only four larvae duly 

 adopted by the ants, they were ail in poor weak nests of ants, 

 obtained by myself m the einergcncy of providing at once for 

 the larvae received, and I had to make the actual observation 

 nests at the same time, at ail of which I should claim too high 

 a status if I called myself an amateur. Later, one of my nests 

 quite failing, Mr. Donisthorpe most kindly supplied me with 

 a good nest, and the ants therem accepted the transferred 

 larva of L. alcon for a time, but then destroyed it, probably 

 not because it was L. alcon^ but because it came from another 

 nest. 



It is noteworthy that neither species, alcon and arion, has a 

 larval moult during its life with the ants, yet it would appear 

 that if it did it would not be in any danger from the ants 

 whilst moulting. The ants were présent during the moult to 

 pupa of both the L. alcon, and seemed, if they did anything, 

 to désire to give assistance, just as they do with their own brood 

 in the émergences of the imagines. Possibly they similarly assist 

 in larval moults of their brood, but I hâve seen nothing to 

 confirm this view. Though I shut off the ants from the pupae, 

 they several times happened to reach and seemed quite solicitous 

 about them. I removed the healthy pupa from the nest two 



